Barbara Wurm

Perceptive film researcher Barbara Wurm (b. 1973) has worked as the head of Berlinale’s Forum section since last year. She has curated films for festivals and archives around Europe and the world and worked for almost 20 years as a programmer for DOK Leipzig, among others.

As a researcher, Wurm specialises in Eastern Europe and Soviet and post-Soviet cinema. During her career, she has worked at universities in Vienna and Basel, as well as Humboldt University in Berlin. She has published books on subjects like visionary director Dziga Vertov and the history of Russian and Soviet cinema.

In her two masterclasses in Sodankylä, Wurm guides the audience into the works of legendary Georgian director Lana Gogoberidze. In the festival programme are Gogoberidze’s feminist Soviet classic Some Interviews on Personal Matters (1978) and the new documentary Mother and Daughter, or the Night Is Never Complete (2023).

Inari Ylinen